If there is not enough manure, you can use water to dilute it. There is no shortage of water in the fields, so isn’t it a waste of work?

　　”No wonder the Li family carried water home all day long some time ago.”

　　”I heard it was Gu Shulang’s idea.”

　　”That’s even more impossible. Gu Shulang is just a scholar. He is an outsider when it comes to farming. How could Li Da listen to the advice of an outsider? It’s nonsense.”

　　Aunt Wang looked happy, but she said, “Let them be busy if they want to. It’s not you who’s tired anyway. Just be careful of the Li family stealing their manure.”

　　”Then you have to take good care of your home. Your two homes are close to each other.”

　　This joke was over. But no one said anything, mainly because there were few people in the Li family and little manure. It wasn’t that the Li family would steal manure. The character of Li Da and his sons was not that kind of person. But they were afraid that the Li family would come to ask for it, and they would have to find an excuse to refuse.

　　But after waiting for a few days, the Li family father and son did not come to ask for manure. Instead, the Li family father and son finished fertilizing one mu of land and said they would wait a few days before fertilizing again. During these days, Li Zhouzhou and his father went into the mountains and brought baskets of grass and mud, all of which were dry and rotten.

　　Anyway, it doesn’t look like pig grass, and I don’t know how to use it. Then I carried water again.

　　By the time we applied fertilizer for the second time, it was already the end of February or the beginning of March.

　　The weather is getting better day by day, the days are getting longer and warmer, but it is still cold in the morning and evening. The villagers pay attention to keeping warm in spring and keeping cool in autumn. Even if people are sweating in the middle of the day, they cannot take off their cotton-padded clothes in winter. As the old saying goes, there will be a late spring cold snap.

　　Gu Zhao had lunch at noon and came to wash clothes as usual. There were few people at this time.

　　Unexpectedly, he met Uncle Wang who was also there to wash clothes. Gu Zhao took a look and saw that the clothes in Uncle Wang’s basin were wet, obviously they had been washed, but there was dust and footprints on the clothes, as if the washed clothes were hung out to dry and someone took them down and stepped on them twice to vent their anger.

　　The men and women in the village like to wash clothes in the morning, eat lunch at noon, and gather together in the afternoon to chat while working. Uncle Wang has no time to chat, because there is endless work to do at home. To make tofu, he must grind beans.

　　”Uncle Wang.” Gu Zhao greeted him.

　　Uncle Wang nodded, hummed, and somewhat awkwardly turned his head and carried the basin downstream. Gu Zhao did not disturb him, and found a place far away. The two of them were about ten meters apart, washing their own clothes.

　　While washing clothes, Gu Zhao was thinking about Uncle Wang’s expression just now. It seemed like there was a bruise on his face?

　　After washing for a while, Gu Zhao stood up and asked Uncle Wang to borrow some soap berries. Without even looking at Uncle Wang’s face, he took the soap berries, thanked him, and walked a few steps away, saying, “It’s hot, and I don’t know when I can change my jacket. Single clothes are easier and lighter to wash.”

　　”It will be even colder in a few days, so you young people should be careful not to catch a cold,” Uncle Wang replied.

　　Gu Zhao nodded and said, “It’s not my place to say anything. I’ve heard people say that drinking too much will damage your body and shorten your life. If you fall down while walking at night, in this weather, you might fall into the paddy field and die that night. You still have to persuade him.”

　　Bullshit advice.

　　Wang Ergou can drink as much as he wants. I don’t know if Uncle Wang understands.

　　He had heard from Zhou Zhou before that Wang Ergou beat Uncle Wang again. The last time they went back to town, they saw him. Wang Ergou won the bet and earned two taels of silver. He had a bad temper at home and wanted to eat meat and drink wine all day long. He was addicted to alcohol and would beat people for money when he was drunk.

　　Uncle Wang has been saving money tightly over the years, of course, for his son Xiaotian to use, to build a house and buy land, and to marry Xiaotian off. He himself was reluctant to spend money on food and clothing, and every time Wang Ergou asked for money, he would give him twenty or thirty cents to get him off.

　　But Wang Ergou won a lot last time, and he played bigger and bigger, and he also wanted to drink, so 23 coins were not enough. Uncle Wang was reluctant to spend money, so he would be beaten, and when he couldn’t bear the beating, he would give an extra ten coins.

　　After going back and forth like this, Wang Ergou called me a bastard and insisted that I beat him before I gave in.

　　Take care of yourself, what’s the point of saving money? Anyway, when saving money, I didn’t see Uncle Wang and Xiao Tian eating meat and drinking soup every day. They were stingy every day. If they saved all the money and gave it to Wang Ergou, it would be better for everyone to spend it together and not think about the next meal. Anyway, the first one who will be anxious when the time comes is whether the two old people in the Wang family believe it or not.

　　The two old people seemed to have handed the family over to Uncle Wang and didn’t care about anything, but in fact they were taking advantage of Uncle Wang and thought that he should save money for Xiaotian and not offend his son. Anyway, all the money Uncle Wang earned went to the Wang family.